A son gives his dying father an Imperial gift: Motoramic Dash

Welcome to the Motoramic Dash, a quick read of the top stories around the automotive world this morning.

Murray Pfaff was a major player in the custom car building community around Detroit well before he created his masterpiece a few years ago: the Imperial Speedster. Based on a 1959 Chrysler Imperial sedan, Pfaff shortened and narrowed the Imperial into a two-door roadster, a process that took 10,000 man-hours. In the video above, the Detroit Free Press rides along as Pfaff takes a road trip in the Imperial to surprise the man who inspired it -- his ailing father.

The whole story's worth a read, from how Eugene Pfaff helped located the Imperial to the work that Murray Pfaff launched to create a piece of alternative history that answers what Chrysler's response to the original Corvette might have been. That Pfaff not only managed to chop a car like a sushi roll but reassemble it into a realistic roadster has amazed auto show visitors for a couple of years, but no one enjoys seeing for the first time quite like Eugene Pfaff.

Other stories from around the automotive world this morning:

UAW freezes out rival in rebound: A great piece from the Wall Street Journal's Sharon Terlep on how one GM plant missed the industry comeback because it had the wrong union. (WSJ)